


Vital

by Fullmetal_Bitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is a Good Friend, No Romance, Sad Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Sick Lance (Voltron), Sickfic, Team as Family, Worried Keith (Voltron), Worried Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 16:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16601387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fullmetal_Bitch/pseuds/Fullmetal_Bitch
Summary: Lance is late for training. Nothing unusual, right? Shiro volunteers to go get him and finds him sick in bed with a fever. But what happens when the fever causes Lance to say some things he'd rather not?





	1. Vital

The morning alarms blared at the same time they always did every day, indicating the start to a new day of training and possible missions. This had been the life of the paladins of Voltron for the past few months. Well, really, they'd only been effective for waking the blue, yellow and, when she decided to sleep, the green paladins. Keith and Shiro were normally always up before the alarms sounded, as were the Alteans, so they signified that breakfast was soon. Everyone trickled into the kitchen/dining room within fifteen minutes of the alarms sounding, with the exception of Lance. Though Lance being a few minutes late to breakfast wasn't a rare occurrence so no one really commented on it. Allura gave him a few minutes and, once he was a no-show, sighed and took them through the day's plan, trusting one of them to pass the message along that it was, baring any distress calls, the same training plan as always. When Lance still hadn't shown by the time everyone finished their breakfast, Hunk was fidgeting where he stood.

"Where's Lance? He's never this late." He chewed his bottom lip worriedly. Shiro placed a calmer hand on the bigger boy's shoulder.

"Head for the training deck. I'll go see what's holding Lance up." Shiro ordered and everyone moved to follow said order, though Hunk was a little hesitant. The princess paused before she followed the rest of the Paladins to oversee their training.

"When you find Lance, please tell him I'd appreciate him taking training more seriously." Shiro didn't get the chance to respond before she swept out of the room to catch up with the others. Shiro thought that was a bit harsh. Sure, Lance was a bit of a goofball but he'd never seen the teenager take training anything less than seriously. He certainly didn't act serious during break times or when they were waiting for the level change or reset but the rest of the time he was focused solely on his shooting. He shook his head as he found himself in front of the blue paladin's door. He paused, placing an ear against the door, and listened for any sounds that would indicate Lance was up. When he heard nothing, he knocked and waited. When no answer was forthcoming, Shiro opened the door and prayed Lance was decent. He didn't bother switching on the light, the hallway illuminated enough of the room and bathroom. A quick glance around the dark room confirmed Lance was still in bed. Shiro sighed. Maybe the princess had a point after all.

"Lance? Lance?" He called the teenagers name as he approached the bed and gently shook his shoulder with his prosthetic arm. The kid barely stirred so he called a bit louder before he heard a disgruntled groan.

" _Vete, Jamie. No me siento bien_." Shiro blinked at the Spanish the boy mumbled. All he recognised was the name. Jamie was one of Lance's siblings. He continued to shake Lance's shoulder, a little more persistent than last time.

"I'm not Jamie, Lance. It's Shiro." Lance's eyes fluttered opened and looked at him, confused. Shiro couldn't be completely sure because of the lack of light in the room but he thought Lance's eyes didn't look as lively as they should. He put it down to the kid having literally just woken.

"Shiro? Why're you in my room?" Lance's words were slurred as he looked around his room a bit dazed.

"You didn't wake up when the morning alarms went off and you missed breakfast." Shiro informed him and frowned when it seemed to take Lance a few seconds to realise what he said.

"Shit. Sorry, Shiro. I'll meet you in the training room once I'm dressed." Lance scrubbed his face with his hands. Shiro nodded and left the room to give Lance the privacy he needed. He barely made it to the door when he heard a loud thump behind him. Spinning, he was confronted with the sight of Lance collapsed on the floor. By the time Shiro got the light on and was back next to him, Lance had pulled himself up so he was sitting on his knees and was clutching his head in his hands. Shiro was kneeling in front of him, hands over Lance's in worry.

"Lance? What's wrong?" He asked, slightly panicked. He got a proper look at Lance now that the light was on. The Latino's face was completely flushed, his eyes were screwed in pain, his hands were clammy and his breathing was laboured.

" _Me siento como una mierda_." Lance managed to gasp out and Shiro groaned in frustration. He didn't miss the way Lance flinched at that.

"English, Lance. I don't speak Spanish." Shiro used the softest tone he could muster at the moment. It took Lance a moment but he did manage to answer.

"Feel sick." Was all Shiro caught. Okay, now they were getting somewhere.

"Can you tell me what your symptoms are, Lance?" If he could, Shiro would be able to tell Coran and hopefully the orange haired Altean would have something in the medical bay that could help Lance.

"Feel hot." Shiro frowned and moved his flesh hand so it rested on Lance's forehead and hissed at how hot the Latino felt. "My stomach." Lance groaned.

"You feel nauseous?" Lance managed a weak nod. "What else? Is there anything else?" Shiro pushed.

"My head hurts. My throat. Achey... Tired." Lance certainly sounded tired. Shiro didn't bother asking if there was anything else. He doubted Lance could think straight with how high his temperature was.

"Okay, you did good, buddy. Let's get you in bed so you can sleep." Shiro positioned himself so he could help Lance up and was surprised he was met with resistance.

"No. Gotta train or I'll be more useless." Lance muttered, pushing weakly at Shiro's hands. God, Shiro really hoped that was the fever talking and not what Lance really believed. Unfortunately, he had a bad feeling it wasn't the fever talking. He grasped Lance's upper arms and made the Cuban look at him.

"Lance, you are sick. You need to rest and get better." Lance's blue eyes were dulled with fever and pain but Shiro knew he had his full attention. "Do you understand?" Lance nodded and this time when Shiro helped him back into bed, he didn't resist. Shiro pulled the blankets up over him before crouching so he was eye-level with the younger boy again. "I'm gonna find Coran and see if we've got anything to help you feel better. Will you be okay?" Shiro wasn't overly keen about leaving Lance by himself but the boy nodded and shut his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Shiro." Shiro had just gotten to his feet when he heard Lance whisper those words and Shiro would be lying if he said that the fact Lance sounded more upset that he'd let Shiro down than he was about being sick didn't get to the older boy.

"You've got nothing to be sorry about, Lance." He told him sincerely but he doubted Lance heard. From the way he was breathing, he'd already fallen asleep. Shiro flicked the lights off and hesitated slightly before actually leaving Lance's room in favour of locating Coran.

Finding Coran was honestly not that difficult considering Shiro knew he'd be at the controls of the training deck. He went straight for the observation deck that was primarily used by the two Alteans and glanced out of the glass to check on the other three. He couldn't hear them but he could see the varying states of worry in them. Hunk was the worst, naturally, and Pidge and Keith seemed tied, though if you didn't know Keith as well as Shiro did, you would probably miss his tells.

"Ah, Number One. I trust Number Three is almost here?" Coran asked as soon as the alien spotted Shiro approaching them.

"Actually, no. Lance is really sick. Do you know if you have anything that can help him? He said he felt nauseous, clammy and his throat hurts. He's also got a severe headache and his temperature is way too high." Shiro listed the symptoms off as quickly as he could. Coran looked worried that Lance was sick.

"Unfortunately, the cryo pods can't be used in this case. They're for physical injuries, not diseases or illnesses. I'll have to go search the infirmary and see what we've got that he can use. Not everything in there is safe for humans. I'll meet you back in his room." Coran sped out of the room, leaving Shiro and Allura by themselves.

"Princess, could you please tell the others? Tell them to wait for me to talk to them before they check on Lance themselves. I'm gonna head back and check on Lance." Shiro asked and she nodded, guilt evident in her expression.

"I'm sorry, Shiro. I just assumed he'd decided to blow off training and-" Shiro cut her apology short.

"You didn't know. Besides, it's not me you need to apologise to." She nodded as they both left the control room together. He kept going while she stopped outside the door that lead to the training area. He heard her open it and the other's talking before he turned a corner and was out of earshot.

* * *

 

He beat Coran back to Lance's room, though he would've been shocked if he hadn't. He pulled the chair that sat at the desk over so he could sit next to Lance and keep an eye on him. He was still fast asleep, though his face was still flushed and his breathing heavy. He didn't do anything except watch the rise and fall of Lance's chest. He wasn't sure how long he sat there before he was suddenly blinking rapidly to get his eyes to adjust to the sudden change in the rooms brightness as Coran flicked the light switch on. Lance scrunched his eyes shut and muttered more Spanish before settling back to sleep.

"How is he?" Coran asked as he used Lance's desk as a table for the supplies he'd grabbed.

"The same. He's still asleep." Shiro spoke quietly, eyes flicking to Coran before focusing back on Lance. Coran put something on Lance's forehead and was watching the small machine it was attached to intently. Faint beeping was heard a moment later and Coran frowned at it. "What?" Shiro asked concerned.

"It says his temperature in 38.1C. Is that bad for humans?" Coran asked. Shiro sighed relieved. He'd thought it had felt worse than that.

"It's not great but it's better than I thought it was. He just has a high fever." Shiro explained and Coran made a noise of understanding. He looked back at the stuff he'd grabbed and snatched up a brown bottle.

"Well, unfortunately, this is the only thing that will help him, I'm afraid. It'll reduce his fever, get rid of his headache and settle his stomach. I'd recommend wetting some cloths to help with his fever as well." Coran was upset he couldn't offer Lance any more help. "Other than that, it's just a matter of waiting for his fever to break. Once that happens, he'll heal a lot quicker." Shiro nodded.

"Okay so how much of that stuff and how often should he take it?" Shiro nodded at the bottle in Coran's hand.

"One capful every six hours should do it. Do you want to give him some now?" Coran asked, leaving the decision up to Shiro. Shiro didn't want to wake Lance up but the sooner he took the medicine, the quicker he'd start feeling better so he gestured for Coran to hand it over.

"Lance?" Like he'd only done a little while ago, Shiro shook Lance awake. This time Lance woke up a little quicker.

" _¿Qué?_ " Lance asked once his eyes landed on Shiro.

"Do you think you could sit up and take some medicine? It'll make you feel better." Shiro coaxed as Lance eyed the medicine warily but gave in when he saw Shiro's pleading eyes. He sat himself up and took the cap from Shiro. His hand shook but he downed it in one go and regretted agreeing to take it once the taste hit him.

"Yuck!" He complained, coughing harshly to get rid of the taste. Shiro rescued the cap before Lance could toss it and gave it back to Coran.

"Sorry, Lance but it'll help you get better." Shiro offered with a sympathetic smile and Lance shot a thoroughly ineffective glare at him as he lay back down. "Get some sleep, kiddo." It didn't take much convincing for Lance to follow that order. Shiro and Coran watched him for a minute and, when his breathing deepened, spoke.

"Do you think you could find some cloths that we can use as cold packs for him? I'll get the water set up." Shiro asked and Coran headed off to the closest linen room to find what he could. Shiro went into Lance's bathroom and grabbed the bowl every bathroom had under the sink and filled it halfway with cold water from the sink. He carefully carried it back to Lance's bedside and placed it on the floor next to his bed. Coran came back only a few minutes later, arms full of small clothes. He dumped them on the half of the desk the medicine's he'd brought in didn't take up. Shiro grabbed one and examined it. It was about half the size of a hand towel and was perfect for what he needed it for. Folding it in half than half again so he had it the right size, he dunked it and placed the cool cloth on Lance's forehead. They knew right away it was effective because Lance sighed in relief and relaxed slightly. They lingered for a couple of minutes but finally had to admit they couldn't do much more and Shiro gestured they leave the room, turning the light off and shutting the door as they did so.

"Do you know where everyone is?" Shiro asked as they headed away from Lance.

"I believe Allura had them gather in the room where we debrief after each mission." Coran answered after a moment.

"Okay. Let's go talk to them. I'm sure Hunk is rather worried." Coran nodded in agreement. It wasn't hard to see how close the two of them were. Shiro was proven right when he was nearly flattened as he entered the room Coran had said they were waiting in.

"Is Lance okay? What's wrong with him?" Hunk asked as soon as he'd backed off slightly to give Shiro breathing room. Pidge was looking just as worried and so were Keith and Allura, though they were polite enough not to crowd Shiro and Coran.

"Lance will be fine. He has, well, it's similar to the flu back home, though his seems to be a bit worse. Coran found some medicine to help him and we've got some wet cloths to help with his fever. Other than that, we need to treat this like we would a normal flu. Make sure he drinks lots of water and gets lots of rest." Shiro paused to let them take in what he said and all of them visibly relaxed. Shiro continued. "Until his fever breaks, he'll need constant supervision so I want to set up a schedule so he'll always have someone with him, just in case. Is everyone okay with that?" He wasn't met with any objections. So now came the last part. "Princess, Coran, I won't be including you in that schedule." He held up a hand to stop the protests that were coming at him. "You're both needed to run the ship and make sure we're safe. I'm sorry, but the four of us can handle looking after Lance." He could tell they didn't like it but they also knew he was right.

"Okay. We'll leave Lance's care in your hands. Let us know if we can help in any way." Allura acquiesced. Shiro thanked her and the Alteans left the room, leaving them to sort out the details of the schedule. The oldest of the remaining group faced the rest of them.

"Before we figure out the schedule; Hunk?" The yellow paladin looked at him. "Have you been around Lance when he was sick before?"

"Yeah, why?" Hunk was rightfully curious.

"Does he normally respond in Spanish?" Understanding flickered through Hunk's eyes.

"Yeah, it's habit. Spanish is his native language and his parents aren't as fluent in English as he is so whenever he got crook back at his home, he'd always answer in Spanish. He never grew out of it, even in the Garrison. He'll stop once his fever breaks." That made sense.

"Thanks. Now, let's figure out this schedule." Shiro said and they got to work. They ended up agreeing to do four hour shifts each, Shiro would take the first four hours followed by Hunk then Pidge the Keith before Shiro was up again. Shiro made sure they knew that Lance had to have the medicine every six hours, which meant Hunk was the first of them to have to give him his next dose.

* * *

 

It took nearly one and a half days for Lance's fever to break but not before it spiked dangerously during one of Keith's shifts. The poor boy had panicked and woken Shiro up an hour before they were due to switch. It took until Shiro was halfway through his shift to convince Keith to go and catch some sleep. It seemed Lance had a knack for scaring Keith because, even though his fever broke while Pidge was in charge, Lance woke up coherent for the first time while Keith was looking after him.

"Keith?" Lance asked once his eyes had adjusted and made sense of the shape sitting right next to him. Said shape jumped in surprise.

"Lance? You're awake? How do you feel?" Keith rapid fired questions at the poor boy as he grabbed the device Coran had used to measure Lance's temperature. The orange-haired alien had given them all a crash course on how it worked. Lance got himself into a sitting position before drawing his knees up and resting his head on them.

"One thing at a time, dude. What happened? Did I screw up on a mission again? I don't remember being in Blue though." Lance asked once his head stopped spinning. He couldn't remember going out in Blue recently but with how much his head hurt, he wouldn't be surprised if he had and just couldn't remember. Keith's face screwed up at the phrasing of the question but answered it.

"No, we haven't had any missions for a while. You got really sick two days ago. Shiro found you after you didn't turn up for breakfast. Don't you remember?" Keith asked. Lance thought and came up with flashes of Shiro kneeling in front of him, concern all over his face.

"Vaguely." His head no longer felt like it was being split open so he turned to face Keith properly. He was honestly shocked to see real concern in his violet eyes.

"How do you feel?" He asked for the second time, using the chance Lance had offered to take his temperature. A few beeps sounded and Keith was relieved to see his temperature was well within the normal range for a human.

"Like Blue stood on me. Really tired. Like I need a shower. I have a massive headache. That's about it." Lance told him honestly and Keith nodded like he expected nothing less.

"Yeah, you basically had the flu, only on steroids. Shiro said you'd feel really tired for a couple more days. Coran actually found some painkillers if you want some." Lance nodded and Keith handed over the tablet and glass of water. Lance mumbled a thanks as he took the painkiller and drained the glass. Keith placed it next to the jug they'd dug up.

"I didn't get anyone else sick, did I?" Lance asked, worry all over his face.

"No. Everyone's fine." Keith assured him and Lance relaxed. Lance could feel the painkillers working already and he was extremely grateful for that as he lay back down.

"Good. That's good. I feel fine now so you don't have to stay here anymore. I'm sure you have better things to do. I'm just gonna sleep." Lance yawned and spoiled Keith's oncoming rant by falling asleep straight away. Keith was forced to settle for glaring at him which was, admittedly, not as effective as his rant would've been.

Lance was still out when Shiro showed up for his shift. Keith turned in his chair and flashed him a brief smile.

"How is he?" They'd made this a habit. The person who was taking over would ask the previous shift how Lance was, if there were any changes and made sure they were okay.

"His fever broke. He woke up about three hours ago and took a painkiller and went back to bed." Shiro was beyond relieved to hear that. It was nice getting good news instead of bad or the same news.

"Did he say anything?" Shiro had wondered about whether Lance would actually remember what had happened. His fever was pretty high.

"Yeah. He asked whether he'd screwed up on a mission again when he woke up and once he'd taken the painkiller, he told me I could leave because he was sure I had better things to do." Keith relayed and watched as Shiro's face fell.

"Damn. I knew it wasn't the fever." Keith didn't think that last was supposed to have been said out loud but he didn't care.

"What wasn't the fever?" Lance shifted in his sleep and turned so he was now facing them instead of the wall. They waited a few seconds but he didn't wake up.

"Look, this is something I need to talk to Lance about first, privately." Keith scowled but knew he'd nothing if he pushed the matter. He'd have to corner Lance later, if he wanted answers. Keith left Shiro alone with Lance shortly afterwards and decided to vent his annoyance on a training robot. Shiro let him go. He did feel bad about keeping Keith in the dark but it was up to Lance to tell people his problems. It was Shiro's job to make sure Lance knew that.

* * *

 

When Lance woke up next, Keith was nowhere in sight. However, Shiro was sitting where Keith had been previously and Lance gave an annoyed huff, alerting Shiro to the fact he was up.

"I told Keith I was fine. You don't need to be watching me anymore." Lance told him as he sat himself up a bit more carefully than he had the first time. That painkiller Coran had found was the best drug Lance had ever put in his system. Not only had it wiped out his headache but it had also helped with his full body aches, courtesy of the space flu. Shiro watched him as he got to his feet, a little unsteady a first but he soon got his balance back.

"Where are you going?" Shiro asked as Lance dug through his cupboard and came up with a new set of pj's.

"Shower. I so need one." He said as he shut his bathroom door behind him before emerging again. "Hey, Shiro? Keith said you were the one who found me when I got sick and made me rest so thanks for that." Shiro smiled at him.

"There's no need to thank me for that." He said honestly.

"Yeah, well, you could've gone and gotten Hunk to deal with me and you didn't so thanks. I'm gonna go for a shower now." With that, Lance disappeared back into his bathroom, leaving Shiro with something else to wonder over. Shiro listened to the water run for nearly fifteen minutes before it was turned off. It took Lance another five minutes to come back to his bedroom. He nearly jumped out of skin when he realised Shiro was still there. "Why are you still here? I told you, I'm fine now. I really appreciate everything you guys have done the past couple of days for me but I'm fine. You can go back to more important things." Lance said as he sat down on his bed, leaning against the wall that acted as a headboard, feeling so much better after his shower.

"I believe you but we still need to talk." Lance tensed. Those were never good words. Nothing good followed that kind of sentence. "Firstly, why didn't you tell anyone you were sick before it got this bad?" Shiro didn't sound angry, more concerned.

"I didn't tell anyone cuz there was nothing to tell." He shrugged a shoulder. "I dunno what to tell you. I went to bed feeling fine then the next thing I remember clearly is waking up with Keith sitting there." He gestured to the chair Shiro was in.

"Oh, I just assumed with how bad you were that morning, that you'd been feeling off a day or two prior. Sorry." Lance shook his head at the apology. It was a fair enough assumption. "There was something else I wanted to talk to you about. After you collapsed, I tried getting you back into bed so you could rest but you told me you didn't want to skip training because you'd be more useless and then you apologised for getting sick, like you'd somehow let us down." Lance flushed with embarrassment.

"It was just the fever." His voice wasn't as smooth or confident as he'd been aiming for but hopefully Shiro wouldn't notice.

"That's what I thought." Thank fuck. "Except," oh no, "Keith told me what you'd said when you woke up before." Lance was gonna seriously injure that stupid mullet. Since his brilliant plan of avoiding the unspoken question was to not look at Shiro, he felt said man move and sit next to him as opposed to seeing him, causing Lance to lean into his body thanks to the dip in the mattress. He brought his knees up to his chest and kept his eyes focused on them instead of the man next to him and shuffled a little so there was more room between the two of them. For a few heartbeats, neither paladin said anything. Then Shiro started talking.

"Lance, you are so important to this team. You are vital to this team. Without you, we'd fall apart. Everyone's been so withdrawn and worried while you were sick. You're the glue that holds us together. You make us forget we're fighting a war with your jokes. You help Coran and Allura with their grief. You make Pidge and Keith remember that sleep is as important as training or whatever project Pidge is absorbed in. You help Hunk with his piloting and cooking and you provide him a shoulder to lean on. You help me more than even I realised. Listening to you tell us stories helps me forget what I've been through and you have this knack of knowing when I've had a nightmare because you always make me that special not-quite-but-close-enough coffee before morning training." Tears had started trailing down Lance's cheeks halfway through that speech and Shiro wasn't done yet. He wrapped his arm around Lance's shoulders and kept going, determined to make the teenager realise just how important he was.

"You even make the Lions more relaxed. I have no clue how you do that but I noticed that you'd hang back after a stressful mission and when you catch up to us, the Lions are happier. And there's the fact that you're our sharpshooter. No one comes even close to you in that department. I don't even wanna think about how many times we owe you for taking out a threat we didn't notice until it was nearly too late. If you need further proof as to how much you are worth to us, take the last two days. I had to effectively ban the princess and Coran from visiting you more than three times a day so that the castle could keep running and we wouldn't be snuck up on. Hunk and Pidge used any and every excuse under the sun to check on you when it wasn't their turn to sit with you. I even had to talk Keith into leaving your room more than once, especially when your fever spiked while it was his shift." Lance's tears were flowing thick and fast now and he was having to stifle sobs. Shiro pulled him closer and Lance went willingly. He buried his head into Shiro's stomach and wrapped his arms tight around Shiro's waist while he cried. Shiro ran his flesh fingers through Lance's locks.

"I don't know how you managed to talk yourself into believing you weren't absolutely crucial to this team as more than just someone to pilot Blue because you are her paladin and so much more, Lance. You're our sharpshooter, our glue and we would be completely lost without you. Don't ever let yourself think otherwise and if you do, come and find me and I'll tell you how wrong you are." He gave Lance a squeeze as he finished speaking and kept up his ministrations with his hair while Lance kept crying. It didn't take long for the stifled sobs to calm down to hiccups and soon they disappeared altogether. Lance didn't make a move to pull away and Shiro didn't make him. Lance did twist himself so his face wasn't buried in Shiro's gut anymore but he didn't loosen his hug and neither did Shiro. Shiro was almost convinced Lance had fallen asleep again when he spoke.

"You check on us." He sniffled as Shiro made a questioning hum. "When you've had a nightmare and can't back to sleep, you check on us. I don't know if the others have noticed but I did 'cuz my mamá does the same thing. But that's how I know you've had nightmares 'cuz you do what mamá does." Lance explained, voice a little raspy after crying so much.

"I'm sorry I woke you." Shiro knew how much Lance liked his eight hours a night and he felt guilty for interrupting them.

"It's 'kay. I don't mind. Made me feel safe, that someone cared enough to make sure I was okay." Lance admitted, yawning widely as he fought to keep his eyes open. Shiro noticed his struggle and shifted himself so Lance had his head cushioned on his thigh as opposed to awkwardly on his stomach. Lance adjusted to the change in position and ended up facing the door with his arms curled up in between his own chest and Shiro's thigh. Shiro was still running his finger's through Lance's hair which did not help with his fight to stay awake.

"Of course I care about you, Lance. You're part of my family now. You and everyone else on this ship have become my space family and I wouldn't trade any of you for the world." Shiro's voice left no room for doubt. "Now go to sleep. Coran will have me scrubbing cryo pods for months if he discovered I've kept you from getting enough rest." Lance chuckled at the mental image and Shiro smiled.

"Okay. Thanks, Shiro." Lance shut his eyes completely, ready for sleep to wash over him once again. "And thanks." Shiro watched as his breathing evened out to a slow, deep rhythm that was so much more comforting than how it was when he was sick.

"Anytime, kiddo. Anytime."

  
**vete, jamie. no me siento bien - Go away, Jamie. I don't feel well**

**me siento como una mierda - I feel like crap**

**¿Qué? - what?**


	2. Essential

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being kicked out of Lance's room by Shiro after telling Shiro what Lance had said, Keith was fuming. But when he went back and confronted Shiro about it, he got the answers he was looking for. He just wasn't sure he wanted to know them.

Keith had retreated to the training room when Shiro had politely kicked him out of Lance's room once his shift had ended. He'd wanted to protest, to demand an answer when he asked what Shiro what he'd meant when he mumbled that he knew it wasn't the fever. The way Shiro had looked when he'd asked had told Keith Shiro hadn't actually meant to say what he said out loud. At least he looked apologetic when he'd asked Keith to leave while he spoke to the Latino, Keith thought as he vented his annoyance on the training robots in front of him. His bayard and knife made short work of them and he soon lost count of how many he took out and how long he'd been training. He cut down the last robot before calling for the computer to turn off the robots as he leaned against his sword to catch his breath. A glance at the clock showed he'd only been hacking at the robots for two hours. After a moment of thinking, Keith deactivated his bayard and headed for the shower. Maybe that would help him figure out what to do.

Keith groaned as he stepped out of the shower to dry himself off and get dressed. The shower hadn't helped in the slightest. Despite Lance's continual insistence of their rivalry, Keith knew he and the Blue Paladin were growing closer and becoming friends, becoming brothers, like he and Shiro. He couldn't stop going over what Lance had said to him after he'd taken that painkiller and before he fell asleep. Keith supposed Lance could've meant that staying with him when he was no longer sick wasn't important because he was no longer sick but the fact that Lance had said Keith didn't need to be there anymore and that he could leave because Lance was sure he had more important things to do made Keith think that maybe Lance thought he wasn't important enough to warrant people helping him when he was sick? Another groan escaped Keith as he leant forward in his seat, placing his head in his hands as he tried to puzzle through what Lance had meant. He was the first to admit he wasn't that great at figuring out social cues, often missing things like hidden meanings, and he usually had to rely on Shiro to explain things to him but he had a nasty feeling that he was right about Lance thinking he wasn't important. He stood suddenly. He really needed to talk to Lance about this. But first, he needed to talk to Shiro.

* * *

 

Keith stormed towards Lance's room, pissed off with himself. Of course Shiro was still there. He said he was going to talk to Lance and Keith should've realised that might take a while but  _no_  his brain told him to check everywhere else for the Black Paladin, wasting nearly an hour of his life. He'd made it to Lance's closed bedroom door and hit the button to open it when he realised the polite thing would have been to knock first, just in case Shiro wasn't in there and Lance was sleeping. However, Shiro was in there and his startled eyes snapped up to meet Keith's. Lance was curled up next to him, head on Shiro's lap with one arm thrown lazily over the older man's legs. The Blue Paladin didn't so much as twitch when Keith opened the door, the comforting feel of Shiro's fingers carding through his hair probably ensured Lance's continued sleep. Shiro raised a finger to his lips and Keith nodded in acknowledgement. Shiro carefully shifted himself sideways, making sure to catch Lance's head when it slipped from his lap and lowered it gently on the pillow, before he managed to hop out of the bed. Lance screwed his face up and started stirring but Shiro leaned over him, whispering something and carding his fingers through the brown hair and Lance settled again. This time, Keith caught a glimpse of the dried tear tracks on Lance's face and blanched slightly. Lance had been crying?

The next thing Keith registered was Shiro gently pushing on his shoulder, trying to get him to move out of the room so they could talk without disturbing Lance. He hadn't even noticed the older man cross the room. A glance at Lance showed him the boy had turned over so his back was now facing them and he had his blankets pulled up so high, only the top of his head showed. He stumbled back a couple steps and Shiro shut the door behind them, leaving Lance in his room to sleep off the exhaustion that came with recovering. Shiro didn't say anything yet, just led them a couple doors down until they were standing outside of Shiro's own room. Shiro had let them in and flicked the lights on while Keith shut the door before either of them spoke.

"Is Lance okay?" Shiro had opened his mouth to talk but Keith had beat him to the punch. "He looked like he had been crying." Shiro swelled with pride. Keith had rarely shown his emotions even in front of Shiro and he couldn't have been prouder of the boy. But now was not the time to tell Keith this, not with him so worried about Lance.

"Physically, yes, Lance is fine. Like I said before, it'll take him a day or two to get over the tiredness but he's over his space flu." Shiro assured him and gave him a look when Keith opened his mouth that told the Red Paladin to zip it. "You remember what you told me Lance had said?"

"Yeah." Keith said, a little confused what this had to do with why Lance had been crying. "He told me that he was fine and that I could go and deal with more important things." Shiro nodded.

"And then I asked you to leave." Keith couldn't stop the small scowl on his face from appearing at that. Shiro gave him an equally small apologetic smile. "Sorry about that but I needed to talk to Lance without an audience, especially after you told me what he said." Knowing what Keith was going to ask, Shiro continued. "When I found him and realised he was so sick, I tried to get him to stay in bed and recover. He fought me on it and told me he didn't want to because he'd be even more useless if he missed training." Silence reigned for a moment before Keith finally managed to get a word in.

"Why would he say something like that? He doesn't actually think he's useless, does he? He can't, not with all the bragging he does." Keith asked, barely stopping himself from scoffing at the idea. The look on Shiro's face was enough to answer his question. Keith felt himself get angry. "How could Lance be that stupid?! Of course he's not useless or unimportant! Why would he even think that?" Shiro was a little stunned to see Keith shaking with barely contained anger. Placing his hands on Keith's shoulders, Shiro forced Keith to look at him and calm down a little.

"I don't know why he thinks that. I didn't ask him when I spoke to him." Shiro told him a little regretfully. He'd wanted to ask Lance but the Latino had fallen asleep before he could. "I told him how important he was. I explained to him exactly how much we needed him. He couldn't stop crying." Shiro didn't miss the worried look that flashed across Keith's face. "I don't think Lance has heard anything close to praise for any of his efforts or accomplishments since we got thrown into space. From what I've been told or overheard from Hunk, Pidge and Lance, the Garrison and Iverson were even worse." Shiro and Keith both grimaced from the stories they'd been told about the year after Keith dropped out. Lance didn't tell them many stories from that time but Hunk and Pidge did. Iverson had always been an arse, in Keith's humble opinion, but the way he'd treated Lance after Keith had dropped out made Keith and Shiro wish they could go back to the Garrison and punch Iverson in the face. Shiro sat heavily down on his bed, startling Keith slightly since the Red Paladin hadn't noticed Shiro move at all, and sighed as he looked at his clasped hands. "I just wish I had realised what was going on with Lance before now. Maybe I could've helped him." He muttered as he placed his head in his flesh hand. He felt a tentative hand land on his shoulder at almost the exact same time the bed dipped on his left and he looked over to meet Keith's insistent and firm gaze.

"You couldn't have known. I doubt even Hunk knows how bad Lance is feeling. It's not your fault, you know." Keith told him sincerely. "I know I suck with all this feeling and social crap but I know we couldn't have done anything to help Lance until now because Lance wasn't able to keep up his act while he was so sick." Shiro blinked at him in surprise before grinning softly.

"You don't give yourself enough credit there, Keith." He said as he knocked their shoulders together gently, causing Keith to flush slightly with embarrassment. Shiro grinned a little more at the reaction before turning serious. "The whole team needs to do better,  _I_  need to do better, when it comes to helping each other out. I don't ever want someone to feel as bad about themselves or their abilities and suffer through it alone like Lance has." Keith could only nod his head in agreement but Shiro didn't seem to be looking for a vocal answer anyway. They sat there in companionable, if not a little subdued, silence and all Keith could think of was how much he wanted to talk Lance.

Lance blearily opened his eyes and looked around his dimly lit room while he tried to figure why he was so tired and, more importantly, why he was awake if he was this exhausted. He was quickly able to answer the first question when he remembered he'd been really sick and then he remembered Shiro had come into his room. Lance felt his face grow red with embarrassment as he remembered  _crying_  in front of Shiro while Shiro was trying to be nice. He remembered everything Shiro said to him and he wanted to believe it but he'd spent so long being told and believing the opposite. It was hard to ignore all of that. Lance had almost drifted back to sleep when he heard the noise that must have been responsible for waking him in the first place again. Someone was knocking at his door. Groaning, he sat up and immediately regretted the action as his head spun violently and his vision started getting spotty. A few deep breaths later, he was able to stand and walk to his door to greet the very insistent person on the other side of it. Ocean blue eyes widened in surprise as he recognised who was trying very hard to beat his door down.

"Keith?"

* * *

 

Keith had stayed with Shiro until the older man had decided he should go tell the rest of the Castle's occupants that Lance was awake. When Keith asked, Shiro had said he wasn't sure if he was going to tell the others about Lance's problems. The Black Paladin wanted to since it was something that could affect the team but he also didn't want to say anything unless Lance said he could. He was just going to play it by ear. Keith watched him leave the room before he followed him out and headed for Lance's room. He knocked heavily on the door, knowing the Latino was a heavy sleeper, and waited. After a few seconds, he knocked again and heard some slight movements from inside and he froze.  _He had absolutely no idea what to say_. He heard Lance hit the button to open the door and his internal panic rose immensely. The next thing he knew, he was locking eyes with startled blue ones and his name seemed to stumble from the Blue Paladin's lips. Instead of answering, he invited himself into Lance's room, pushing Lance back and hitting the button to shut the door behind him before he flicked the lights on. Lance was forced to shield his eyes as the sudden brightness blinded him.

"Sorry." Keith winced as he watched Lance blink rapidly as his eyes struggled to adjust. Lance rubbed his eyes to get rid of the tears that had been summoned by the sudden change in light. When he lowered his hands, Keith internally winced as he saw just how tired Lance looked. His normally flawless skin was marred by dark bags under his eyes and his face was still a couple shades too pale. The thought that he should've left Lance to sleep crossed his mind and he mentally facepalmed at the fact that that thought crossed his mind  _now_.

"What did you need, Keith?" Lance asked, so tired he barely noticed how whiny he sounded. He just wanted to sleep. It hadn't really clicked in his mind how worried Keith looked right now as Lance half-heartedly glared at him.

"What is  _wrong_  with you?" Keith honestly could've bashed his head into the wall, he really could have. Lance just openly gaped at him, his brain trying to figure out if he'd really just heard that.

"What?" Lance asked, voice uncharacteristically small and unsure. His eyes were staring at the ground, flicking back and forth as he tried to think about exactly what he'd done wrong this time.

"Why do you think you're not important?" Keith did not know how to beat around the bush. Lance's shoulders drooped.

"Shiro told you." It wasn't a question, merely a resigned statement, like Lance wasn't surprised they were talking about him behind his back.

"Well, yes, but he didn't have too." Keith told him, a little confused. "You told me when you woke up, remember?" Lance's eyes widened slightly as he recalled what he'd said to Keith when he'd woken to find the black-haired swordsman sitting next to his bed.

"Oh." Was all Lance managed to get out before he tried to figure out a way to convince Keith to drop the subject. So he flashed Keith a smile. "You don't have to worry about anything. Shiro talked to me and it won't affect Voltron so it's okay." He said, only slightly less convincing than he was aiming for but he hoped Keith hadn't noticed as he walked back to his bed and flopped gracelessly onto his mattress so that once he heard his door swoosh open and shut, he could go back to sleep. What he did not expect is Keith to follow him and perch himself precariously on the edge of his bed. Lance sat himself up, more surprised than annoyed at the moment.

"I think you're lying." Keith said and Lance's surprise was overtaken by his annoyance. Keith didn't give him the chance to voice that annoyance. "You're not okay. I know Shiro talked to you and I don't care about Voltron right now. Why do you think you're unimportant?" Keith asked and Lance's expression became stoney.

"Don't worry about it." He kept his voice level and refused to look Keith in the eye. Keith didn't accept the answer.

"Why do you think you're unimportant?" He asked again and he saw Lance's jaw tighten.

"I said 'don't worry about it'." Lance repeated but Keith kept pressing the issue.

"Why do you think you're unimportant?" Keith asked again, refusing to give up. Lance's fists were attempting to strangle the blankets.

"Leave it alone, Keith." Lance's voice lost it's neutrality and became a warning growl. Keith knew he was getting close.

"Why do you think-" Keith started asking again but it seemed Lance's limit had been reached. He'd honestly thought it'd take longer since Lance had so many siblings and Keith was honestly mimicking a random pair of children he'd seen in a park a few months before he started at the Garrison.

"Because I'm not!" Lance shouted and Keith flinched back slightly at the anger but mostly at the strength of the conviction in Lance's voice. The Latino truly believed this with practically his entire being. "The only important thing about me is me being Blue's Paladin! You guys would be better off finding a new Blue Paladin and it honestly wouldn't be difficult with how low I've set the bar! I mean, come on! Pidge and Hunk are freaking geniuses! You and Shiro are ridiculously good at everything! We'd never have made alliances without Allura or Coran! I bring  _absolutely nothing_  to this team except as someone to pilot Blue!" He opened his mouth to keep ranting but his brain caught up with what he was doing and his hands flew to his mouth to physically stop the flow of words. Lance's eyes widened and he could feel his hands growing damp from the tears he hadn't even realised he was shedding.

Keith couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Lance had really been feeling like this the entire time? He really thought he was basically a seat-warmer for Blue? That the team really didn't think he was useful? Lance looked so ashamed of his outburst and Keith felt his heart squeeze painfully. And then there was the fact that he was now crying. Keith was so far out of his element right now but his friend needed him and he'd be damned if he didn't try and help. His resolve hardened when he heard Lance's barely whispered 'I'm sorry'. Keith grabbed Lance's wrists and pried them from his mouth so that Lance couldn't keep hiding behind them. He locked eyes with the Cuban and refused to let him break it as he started talking.

"Stop apologising, shut up and listen to me." Keith ordered, internally cursing how harsh he sounded. He felt Lance flinch slightly and he unconsciously tightened his grip on his wrists. "You're right. You're not as smart as Pidge or Hunk. No one on this ship is. You can't cook as well as Hunk but neither can anyone else. Trust me when I say neither Shiro nor I are as good at everything as you think we are. Shiro still has flashbacks and PTSD and I'm not the best at controlling my temper. The amount of times you or someone else has had to cover us or save our arses because Shiro froze or I made a stupidly reckless decision is ridiculous. No one is as good as the Princess or Coran at diplomatic situations. Allura literally grew up learning all of those skills and Coran was the one of her teachers." Keith couldn't remember the last time he spoke this much but he wasn't going to stop until Lance realised what every single person on the Castle already knew. Lance was looking a little confused like he couldn't see Keith's point so the swordsman got to it. "But, Lance. No one can shoot like you. You have made shots that none of us could even think about. And you always make us laugh when we need it. Like after a tough mission or when someone has a bad day. You push me to be better by challenging me all the time but you also make sure that I don't overdo it. I know you do the same for Pidge whenever she decides to stay up all night. And you're always there whenever Hunk seems to be having a tough day. Seriously, it's like you've got an inbuilt 'Hunk's upset' radar. And I hate to admit it but your flirting and over-the-top compliments always make Allura and Coran relax a little. Even though Allura knows you're not seriously hitting on her, she appreciates the comments and Coran loves how shameless you are about complimenting someone."

Lance had basically stopped crying by now, only a few stray tears still found their way down his cheeks as he listened to Keith talk. He'd never heard the Red Paladin say so many words, yet alone so many nice words about him. Keith was still holding his wrists but his grip had loosened enough that Lance wasn't worried about bruising anymore. Lance had to admit that he hadn't seen where Keith was going when he'd started pointing out everyone's good points and then saying no one else was like that but then he'd started talking about what Lance could do that no one else could and Lance found himself crying again. When Keith had stopped to take a breath, Lance went to talk but Keith cut him off and resumed talking.

"Shiro hasn't said anything but everyone except you has pointed out how much better he seems to be doing so I know you have something to do with that. You even manage to help the Lions! I honestly don't know how you haven't noticed how  _essential_  you are to this team but you are so you need to stop talking like you aren't! We don't want another Blue Paladin and neither does Blue! Trust me, if she wanted someone like me or Shiro, she would've opened for us back on Earth but she didn't. She  _chose_  you and she's a very smart Lion. If you ever feel like you don't matter, tell me or Shiro or Hunk or anyone 'cuz we will tell you how wrong you are, okay?" Keith asked, finally finished telling Lance exactly what he thought, a little nervous that he may have overstepped a line somewhere in his impromptu speech. He felt his cheeks growing slightly warm as Lance continued to stare at him, mouth slack and tears still slipping down.

"You-" Lance started before taking a shaky breath. "You really think that?" He asked, sounding so small and vulnerable but he looked one sentence from believing Keith so, instead of rolling his eyes like he normally would've, Keith placed his hands on either side of the Latino's face and looked him dead in the eyes with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"Yes." One simple word. It was just one tiny word but that was all it took. Lance's face crumpled before throwing himself at Keith so he was practically in the startled boy's lap. He wrapped his arms around the Red Paladin's torso and fisted his hands in the material of his red and white jacket before he buried his face in Keith's shoulder and sobbed. To Keith's credit, it only took him a few moments before he returned the hug just as tightly, one hand on Lance's back and resting the other on the back of his neck. He gave in to his gut feeling and started running his fingers through the ends of Lance's hair softly and tucking his head so his cheek was resting on Lance's hair.

They stayed that way for a while. Keith was honestly surprised he didn't feel uncomfortable or anything he'd expected to feel from having someone crying on him. He focused on Lance's breathing and offering any comfort he remembered from the rare times he had someone comfort him while he was crying. He stayed quiet but kept up with carding his fingers through the brown hair and rubbing soothing circles on Lance's back. He wondered how long it had been since Lance had told someone what he was feeling and cried like this. Keith waited patiently and was eventually rewarded with Lance's sobbing transitioning into normal breathing. After a few moments, Lance pulled himself away from Keith and Keith let him though he did rest a hand on Lance's knee as he watched him wipe away the tears Keith's jacket hadn't absorbed.

"I'm sorry." Lance said as his cheeks lit up with embarrassment. He seemed to cower slightly, like he was expecting Keith to tease him.

"You don't need to apologise." Keith shook his head at him and Lance looked back up at him, posture relieved. "Next time, leave the emo stuff to me, okay?" Keith's lips curled up slightly and he was rewarded with a watery chuckle from Lance so he certainly considered it a win.

"Okay, mullet." Lance gave the best smile he could and Keith returned it. Suddenly, Lance's demeanour changed and he was fidgeting slightly. "Um, thank you. For, you know, what you said and stuff." Lance didn't quite mumble but if Keith was sitting further away from him, he wouldn't have heard it. Keith didn't think, he just did what felt right. Raising his hand, he cupped Lance's face and stroked his cheek with his thumb. Lance leaned into the touch and his expression became almost peaceful, though Keith did see all that exhaustion come back into focus.

"You don't have to thank me for that." Keith told him sincerely. He pulled his hand away as Lance yawned widely. "Maybe you should get some more sleep." Keith suggested, concerned and a little guilty. After all, he  _was_  the reason Lance wasn't still asleep. He went to get up but Lance's arm shot out to grab him before he could. Lance looked slightly stunned at his actions but Keith settled back into spot with a questioning noise.

"Could you- could you stay here? With me? Just until I fall asleep? Please?" Lance's cheeks felt like they were on fire as he spoke but he really didn't want to be alone right now. The only reason he was able to sleep after Shiro told him what he thought was because Shiro was still there. He just needed the warmth of another person next to him after such an emotional breakdown. He knew he was handing Keith all sorts of blackmail material but that was something to worry about later. But Keith didn't say anything. He just kicked his boots off, shrugged himself out of his jacket and lay down on Lance's bed before looking at the Latino expectantly. Lance lay himself back down and, after a moment, shoved his embarrassment aside and snuggled into Keith's side. The black haired boy couldn't help his initial reaction to stiffen but he loosened up just as quickly, wrapping his arms around Lance and pulling him even closer. One of Lance's arms snaked over his waist and the other stayed tucked up in between the two Paladin's.

Keith had not expected Lance to ask him to stay but he couldn't help but feel honoured that the Latino had trusted him enough to. He knew that the thought he'd somehow use this against the Latino in the future was bouncing around in Lance's head but he didn't take any offense. So he kicked off his boots and took his jacket off so he could be as comfortable as possible. He'd almost moved to take his knife off out of habit but remembered quickly he'd stopped by his room in between talking to Shiro and Lance to leave it there. He made himself comfortable on Lance's mattress and looked up at the Cuban questioningly. It took Lance a couple seconds for his brain to catch up on the fact that Keith had agreed before he lay down next to him.

Keith watched him as an internal debate seemed to go on inside his head before Keith suddenly had Lance curled up right next to him. The contact had Keith do a good imitation of a statue for a heartbeat but he relaxed when he felt Lance nuzzle into the crook between his neck and shoulder and he responded by wrapping his arms around Lance. One of Lance's arm found itself draped over Keith's waist but the other stayed tucked between them and Keith worried Lance would be uncomfortable but he made no move to move it. He was almost convinced Lance was asleep when he heard a whispered 'thank you' from the Latino. Instead of replying with words, Keith just tightened his arms to give Lance a brief squeeze. After a few more minutes, he knew Lance was asleep and he knew he could leave but he was so warm and comfortable and having someone cling to him like Lance was was nice. Eventually the mixture of Lance's warm breath on his neck and the tiredness he felt from the whole day had him falling asleep without even realising it.

* * *

 

A couple of hours later found Shiro approaching Lance's room after not seeing Keith for a while. When a search had failed to turn up the Red Paladin in any of his usual haunts, Shiro decided checking Lance's room was a good idea. When he opened the door and saw the scene in front of him, it took all of his self control not to make any noise at the heartwarming sight. Lance and Keith were still curled up together and Shiro had never wanted a camera more in his life than right now. Neither teenager so much as twitched as the door opened so, after turning the light off, Shiro shut the door and left to find Coran and Allura so he could make sure no alarms sounded unless the Galra attacked. He wanted both of them to get as much sleep as possible. He knew today had been a big day for both of them, emotionally, and he couldn't dampen the prideful feeling trying to burst of his chest.


End file.
